Mold-ramming machine



3 Sheets-Sheet l March 8,1927. J' STONE MOLD RAMMING MACHINE Filed oct. :5, 1925 192. March 8 7 J. STONE MOLD RAMMING MACHINE l Filed Oct. 3, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 v1 2 March 8 9 7 J. STONE AMOLD RAMMING MACHINE Filed oct. "s, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Mar. 8, 1927.

UNTTED STATES JOSEPH STONE, OF BESSEMER, ALABAMA..

MOLDRAMIVING MACHINE.

Application led October 3, 1925. Serial No. 60,228.

This invention relates to a mold rannning machine of the character of that shown in my Patent #1,525,668, issued on January 2o, 1925.

Like the machine of the patent referred to, the device of the present invention has for its object to provide a mechanism adapted to deliver a predetermined quantity of molding sand into a flask which has been 't superimposed upon a pattern frame, to then advance that flask to ramming position where the sand is acted upon by a plurality of angularly disposed peans or side rammers and thereafter is acted upon by a plurality of vertically acting butt rammers in such manner that the sand is tamped into the mold and about the pattern with great firmness and at such speed that great economy in operation is effected. However, the machine of the present invention goes much beyond the structure referred to constituting the subject matter of my prior patent, and introduces many refinements of construction and additional features by virtue of which the operation of ramming the molds may be carried out more expeditiously and with greater economy.

Among the improved features particularly to be noted is the. provision of means for propelling the machine as a whole under its own power along a molding room floor and upon suitably formed tracks so that the sand elevator or conve-yor may be advanced and forced into the pile of molding sand. The :"5 sand elevator derives its power through suitable connections from the main motor of the machine and these connections comprise clutch elements, so that the sand elevator may be stopped and started at will.

A further feature of novelty and advantage resides in the provision ofa take-off mechanism by means of which the rammed flask may be conveyed away from the machine, while the wheeled pattern frame is again returned to flask receiving position.

A further feature of novelty is the provision of the gate formers directly upon the butt rammers. Still another feature of novelty and advantage. is the provision of improved mea-ns for adjustingthe position of the. peans or side rammers, both bodily and with respect to their angularity.

An ladditional feature of novelty is the provision of improved timing mechanism 5" and improved controlling elements associated therewith, whereby, after a starting lever counter shaft, meshes with has been manipulated, the side rannners will be caused to operate for a predetermined number of strokes and will then be automatically stopped and the butt rainmers will be set 1n operation and caused to operate for a predetermined number of strokes, after which said butt ra-mmers will be brought to rest, the whole being so arranged that the rammers will be brought to a position of rest in their elevated position, so that the move-ment of the pattern frame and the flask, from ramming position to take-off position, will notbe interfered with by said rammers.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side. elevation of a machine constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fie. 2 is a central vertical sectional view therethrough,

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 1,

Fig. L1- is a partial plan view of the flask take-off mechanism,

Fig. 5 is a partial plan view,

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the clutch control mechanism,

Fig. 7 is a detail view of the adjusting mechanism of the side rammer bearing elements and,

Fig. 8 is a detail view of a detent member hereinafter described.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, 5 designates the main frame of the machine, which is supported upon track wheels 6, the latter being suitably formed tol travel upon rails 7. rlhe machine may be propelled bodily along the rails 7 by power derived from a motor S. The driving pinion 9, of this motor, meshes with a gear wheel 10 upon a counter shaft 11. A pinion 12, on this a gear wheel 13 upon a horizontal driving shaft 14. The counter shaft 11 carries a bevel pinion 15, which meshes with a corresponding pinion 16 upon vertical shaft 17. Bevel gearing 18 connects the vertical shaft 17 with a hori- Zontal shaft 19 and this shaft 19 drives through suitable clutch mechanism, indicated at 20, to the driving shaft 21, the

.ramming position.

latter driving,- through suitable bevel gearing 22 to one of thehgronnd wheels 6. The

bodily forward movement of the machineV under the action of the connections described, moves the lower end of a sand conveyor 23 toward a pile of molding;- sand, on the molding room floor. The sand, picked up by the buckets 24 of the conveyor, is discharged into a. sand hopper 25. Suitable gates 26, of a usual and well known type, constitute a measuring` structure by which a predetermined Y quantity of sand may be measured out and discharged into the flask 27.l It will be understood that there are a plurality of the flasks 27 and that these flasks have their mounting upon pattern frames 28, the latter being provided with grooved wheels 29 which travel upon trackways carried by and bodily movable with the frame 5.- These trackways comprise the runs 30, which are inclined, and are pivote'd at 31 to the ends of fixed and substantially vhorizontal sections 32, the lower ends of the sections 30 are free to lift, said sections swinging upon the pivots 31. The pattern frames and flasks are propelled upwardly along the inclined rails 30 by means of con veyor chains 33 which pass over sprocket wheels 34 and 35. A transverse bar 36 eX- tends between the chains 33 which are disposed in pairs, one upon each side ofthe line of travel of the pattern frame up the runway constituted by the track section 30 and this transverse bar 36 engages and thrusts against the rear ends of the patternV frames to propel them up the said incline and into ramming position. rlfhe pattern frame and flask marked A is disposed in sand receiving' position. The pattern frame and flask marked B is disposed in The pattern frame and flask marked C is disposed in take-off position. The conveyor, constituted by the chains 33 and the bar 36, is driven in any suitable way such` for example, as by means of the shaft 36, bevel gearingV 37, between said shaft and the vertical shaft 17, and bevel nearingr 38 between said shaft and the shaft 39 of the upper sprocket wheels 35. A clutch 40 provides means for connecting or disconnecting` the shaft 36 from the shaft 17 at will or for connecting` these shafts. Then a. pattern frame and flask has been forced up the incline 30, it comes to a position of rest upon the fixed track section 32, said track section being preferably provided with slight depressions within which the wheels 29, of the pattern frame, come to rest so that the flask is held in properly centered relation beneath the butt rammers. Afterrthe sand has been properly rammed by the side rammers and the butt rammers, as hereinafter described, the rammed flask is forced from rainmine' position by the .movement of the next fiask up the runway and when the rammed flask is forced from the horizontal track section 32, it rides over upon a track section 40, which is inclined slightly downward toward its rig-ht hand end and, at its outer end, is provided with" mechanism, rolls down said inclined section 42EL and is conveyed back t0 sand receiving position along' a track' section 44, it being?,- understood that, at this time, the rail sections 30 lift to permit the passage of the wheels 29 of the pattern frame.

, The take-off mechanism Vcomprises a truck* 45 having wheels 46 adapted to travel upon the rails 7. This truck carries standards47 upon which arms 48 are pivotally mounted, intermediate their ends. Springs 49 tend to elevate the inner ends of these arms,` Trunnions 50, are movable through the'ends of the arms, and carry bars 5l. These bars are provided with openings 52 which are adapted to engage, by the bodily lateral movement of said arms. with laterally extending studs or handles 53 of the flask, l/Vhen a flask is to be removed, the inner ends of the arms 48 and the bars areY manually depressed against the tensionv of the springs 49 to bring` the openings 52 yinto alignment with the handles 53. At this time theV trunnions are drawn outwardly against the tension of springs 50a. 1 When the trunnions are released the bars 5l are moved by saidspring 50",L toward the flask untilthe studs'engage with the openings 52, after which the arms 48. are released and the flask is lifted free of the patternframe. to maintain the flask in lifted position and the truck is moved away from the ramming' machine, carrying the flask with it and' leaving' the pattern frame free to be returned alone; track sections 42a and 44 to sand 'receiving position, beneath the hopper 25. Y

The shaft 14 drives through the tin-ee bevel gears, indicatedat 56 and 57 to three continuously rotating' gears 58, 59 and 60. The later `nears are supported upon, but are free to rotate with respect to, transverse shafts 61. 62 and 63. f Thesaid shafts are each provided with a plurality of crank portions 64, y65 and 66, and the Anears 58, 59 and 60 are adapted toY be clutchedrto their respective shafts througgh the medium Vof clutches 67. 68 and 69. These clutches are shifted into and out of engaging position The springs 49 act by means of yokes 70, 71 and 72 which are mounted upon the upper ends of vertical rock shafts 73, 74 and 75. The central crank shaft 62 operates vertically disposed butt rammers 78, it being understood that there are a plurality of these rammers disposed in a transverse row across the width of the machine, said rammers are carried by vertical shanks 7 9, supported in fixed bearings 8O and 81 which extend between the side frame members 5. The connections between the cranks and the Shanks 79 of the butt rammers comprise connecting rods or links 82, said links being pivotally connected at 83 to the cranks and at 84 to blocks 85 which are slidably mounted upon the shanks 79. The blocks 85 are disposed between collars 86 and 87 upon the shanks and springs 88 bear between the blocks and the lowermost collars 86. Thus the connection of the connecting rods 82 with the shank 79 is a yielding one. rI`he purpose of this is to permit the butt rammers to yield upwardly as the sand becomes progressively more firmly packed in the flasks. The butt rammers 78 may have ordinary flat lower faces or they may be provided with tapering` projections 89 constituting gate formers, whereby the gates will be automatically formed in the rammed mold. As in my prior patent, I may additionally provide gate formers 89 operated by a handle 89b to form the gates when the flasks reach take-off position, if desired.

rIhe side rammers or peans 90 are carried by stems or shanks 91 which have slidable mounting in bearings 92 of shiftable frames 93. These frames are of such a nature that their position may be shifted and their angularity may be changed by properly manipulating hand wheels 94 and 95, said hand wheels carrying gears 96 (see Figure 7 which mesh with racks 97 that are affixed to the frames 93. By virtue of this construction, the operator is enabled to cause the side peans to enter the iiasks, not only atvarying angles, but at various points.

The shanks or stems 91, of the side peans, carry collars 98 and 99 between which sliding blocks are disposed. Springs 101 bear between the lowermost collars 99 and the undersides of the sliding blocks and serve the same purpose with respect to the peans that the corresponding' structure serves with respect to the butt rammers. The blocks 100 are pivotally connected to connecting rods 101 which engage the cranks 64 and 66, respectively, of the end transverse shafts 61 and 63.

rllhe timing mechanism, by which the side peans are stopped after a predetermined number of strokes and the butt rammers are automatically set in operation; to be subsequently automatically stopped after they, in their turn, have made a predetermined number of strokes, comprises pinions 102, 103 and 104 upon the several transverse crank shafts. These pinions mesh with timing gears 105, 106 and 107, so that these timing gears are caused to rotate whenever their corresponding crank shafts are rotated by the engagement of their driving clutches with their driving gears 58, 59 and 60. The timing gears carry timing discs 108, 109 and 110, said discs having locking notches 111, 112 and 113, respectively, in their peripheries. Detents 114, 115 and 116 are spring supported from bell crank levers 117, 118 and 119, the latter being pivoted at 120, 121 and 122. The short arms of these bell crank levers are pivotally connected at 123, 124 and 125 with trip levers 126, 127 and 128, the latter being pivoted at 129, and 131. The upper ends of these trip levers are shaped to be engaged by trip lugs 132, 133 and 134 located upon the peripheries of the discs 108, 109 and 110. The levers 126 and 127 are pivotally connected to an actuating rod 140. This rod has pivotal connection at- 141 and 142 (see Fig. 5) with cranks 143 and 144 upon the lower ends of the vertical clutch yoke shafts 73 and 74. Rod 140 is further connected at a to an actuating lever 145 having a handle 146, the lower end of which is provided with a laterally eX- tending handle 146 which projects through an arcuate slot 147 of the frame 5 so that it may be grasped by the operator. The handle 145 is pivoted at 148 and at its end 149, it is pivotally connected to an operating rod 150, the latter, in turn, being pivotally connected to the lower end of the trip lever 128. Rod 150 has pivotal connection at 151 with a crank 152 upon the lower end of the vertical shaft 75. The connections of Fig. 6 are shown in the positions that they occupy after the handle 146 has been moved to its limit toward the right, to thereby set the side rammers in operation. The movement of the handle 146 toward the right, drew rod 150 toward the left, moved crank 152 toward the left and threw yoke 72 toward gear 60 to thereby engage clutch 69 and set shaft 63 in operation. Furthermore, these parts are shown in the position they occupy after the side rammers have made a number of strokes and are about to be brought to a position of rest and the butt rammers set in operation. Since the pinion 63 is much smaller in diameter than the gear 107, it follows that a number of revolutions of shaft 63 take place during the time that the timing` gear 107 makes a single revolution. Of course, the same is true with respect to pinion 102 and gear 105 and the associated parts.

When gear 107, in its continuous rotation, brings the trip lug 134 into engagement with the upper end of trip lever 128, the upper part of said level' will be moved toward the left thereby nloving the detent 116 toward the disc 110 and putting the detent spring 116d under tension. The movementof the upper end of le ver 128 toward the left causes movementof rod 150 toward the right to disconnect clutch (S9. hiiovement of rod 150 toward the right causes movement. of rod lei-0 toward the left, such movement being aided by the action of trip lug 1232 upon the upper end of lever rlhis movement of rod 14.() acts through yoke to disengage clutch 67. hns the side rannners are brought to a position oi' rest with theY trip lugs 132 and 134i just clear of the upper ends of the levers 12o and 128 and, vwith the. de-

tents'114, and 11o, engaged in the notches 111 and 113, by which the side ranm'iers are securely .heldv in elevatedposition. Y

rlhe movement of rod 140 toward the left acts through crank 148 to shift clutch (3S into engaging position and to start the butt rammers'in operation. The movement of rod 141-0 also moves the lever 127 upon its pivot 130 to bring its beveled upper end 127 a into the pathof movement ot' the trip lug 133 of disc 109; vr'he described movement of the lever 127 moves bell crank 115. in such direction as to release the spring tension upon the detent 115, so that the timing disc 109 may rotate in the direction of the arrow until the trip lug 133 acts to move the upper end of the lever 127 toward the right. lihis vwill again put the detent 115k under tension and cause it to snap into the notch 112. The described movement of the lever 127 also acts to throw the clutch G8 out of engagement and to bring the butt rammers to rest. The point of Vpivoting of theA lever V127 is such, with respect to the point of pivoting of levers 126 and 128, thatwhile the movement of the latter levers is sutiicient to stop the side rammers and start the butt rammers, the movement imparted'to rod 1210 by the movement of the lever 127 under the action of lug 109:1, is, while suiiicient to stop the butt rammers, not sufficient to again start the side rai'i'm'lers. The starting of the side rammers is manually effected by giving a further movement toward the right, to handle 1416.

If desired, I may employ additional detents of the character of those shown in Fig. 8 to stop the timing gears and discs and to hold them in proper place while stop ed, said detents comprising arms 160, which are secured'upon the vertical shafts, 73, 74 and 75, said arms carrying dctent pins 161 which are actuated in one direction by springs 162 and bear against the outer faces of the timing discs under the action of said springs. These detent pins are adapted to snap into slight depressions 163 of the tin'iing discs.

In order that the sand may be adequately supplied to the hopper 25 by the conveyor 23, I drive this conveyor-from one of the continuously moving parts of the machine, such,

for example, as thehub of gear wheel 58, such drive being 1n the nature of sprocket mechanism such as the chain, indicated at 165, I preferably include a'clutch, the handle of which is indicated at 166, inpthis drive,'so

that the conveyor may be stopped and started It is manifest that other ways of at will. carrying out the objects of the invention will suggest themselves to persons Vskilled in the art. Consequently, it is tobe understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth butL that it includes Vwithin its purview what ever changes fairlyrcomcwithin eitherthe terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

IIa-ving'V described my invention, what IV claim is:

travel along said trackways and a sand con-Y veyor for delivering sand to the pattern frames, said conveyor projecting beyond one end of the machine frame in such manner as to be fed into a pile of .sand by the bodily movement of said machine when propelled by said motor. K

A structure as recited in claim 1 wherein said rammers comprise butt rammers and side 'ammers and Ygate formers carried by and projectingbelow the butt rammers. n

8. A mold ramming machine comprising a plurality of butt rammers Aand gate formers carried by and constituting parts of the butt rammers. i

4i. A. machine'of the character described comprising a wheeled supportingframe, a motor thereon, a plurality of cranked side rammer shafts carried by said frame, connecting rods engaged with the cranks of said shafts, side rammers or peans, slidable connections between the side rammers and the connecting rods, springs resisting n'iovement of said slidableV connections upon the rods in one direction, bodily 'movable vframes in which the Shanks of the side remmers have their bearing and manually operable racks l racks and hand wheels for operating said pinions.

7. A machine of the character described comprising a wheeled supporting frame, a motor therein, means for propelling said frame from said motor, a side rammer driving shaft at each end of the frame, a butt rammer driving shaft intermediate the side rammer shafts, butt rainmers actuated from the butt rammer driving shaft, side peans or rammers actuated from the side rammer shafts, timing gear mechanism driven from the said shafts and connections between the timing gear mechanism and the clutches of the several shafts whereby, after the side rammer shafts are set in operation, they operate for a predetermined number of revolutions and then automatically set the butt ramn'ier shaft in operation and whereby the mechanism is automatically brought to a stop after the butt rammer shaft has operated for a predetermined number of revolutions, a sand conveyor movable bodily with the supporting frame and projecting therebeyond in such manner as to be thrust into a pile of sand by the bodily movement of the machine under the action of its motor and pattern frames traveling in said supporting frame to which sand is delivered by said conveyor.

8. A machine of the character described, comprising a wheeled supporting frame, a motor carried thereby, a main driving shaft extending along one side of the frame adj acent the top thereof, means for driving said shaft from the motor, three transverse crank shafts, the central one of which constitutes the butt rammer shaft and the two outer ones of which constitute the side rammer shafts, bevel gear wheels upon the said shaft, meshing with bevel pinions upon the main driving shaft, clutches for connecting said gear wheels to the said 4driving shaft, clutch operating mechanism and timing discs for controlling the movement of the clutch operating mechanism, said discs being` driven from said transverse crank sha-ft, but at a reduced rate of speed.

9. A structure as recited in claim 8 in combination with detent mechanism for holding the several shafts in their respective positions of rest at which time the rammers, associated with the several shafts, are in elevated position.

l0. A machine of the character described comprising butt rammers and side rammer shafts, cranks carried by said shafts, sliding butt rammers, connections between the cranks of the several shafts alid the respective rammers, controlling clutches for the several crank shafts, yokes engaged with said clutches, vertical shafts by which said yokes are carried, an operatingrlever, connections between the several vertical shafts and the operating lever and means for automatically moving said connections, said means comprising timing gears driven at a reduced rate of speed from the several shafts, timing discs carried thereby, trip lugs upon the timing discs and levers acted upon by said trip lugs to move the said connections.

ll. A structure as recited in claim 10 Awherein said discs are provided with detent notches, restraining detents and pivoted levers actuated by the trip lugs of the timing discs for moving said detents to disc restraining position.

12. A machine of the character described, comprising supporting and driving wheels and a frame mounted thereon, a motor upon said frame, a sand hopper upon the frame, a sand elevator upon the frame, means for driving the sand elevator from the motor, trackways bodily movable with the frame and constituting a passageway through the frame for pattern frames and flasks, a propelling conveyor for propelling the pattern frames along said trackways, means for driving the propelling conveyor from the motor, means for driving the supporting wheels from the motor and side and butt raminer actuating shafts, said shafts being likewise driven from said motor, the sand elevator projecting beyond the frame in such manner that it may be fed into a pile of sand under the bodily movement of the machine upon its supporting wheels.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

JOSEPH STONE. 

